NationStates Jolt Archive

Perpetua station lay deep within the darkest woods of Iesus Christi, camouflaged by netting and the natural protection of the woods. Only one solid concrete bunker rose above ground, its solid metal doors occasionally taking in truck borne shipments.

To the world that was all they saw of Perpetua station – a bunker build in an isolated area, easily written off as part of the massive Iesus chemical or biological weapons program.

Underground rested the majority of the station, and this of course would be no surprise to any intelligence agency. What would be a surprise was the scale of the tunneling…Perpetua station was massive warren of tunnels and built so far down it burrowed into the living rock of the planet - Safe from prying eyes and foreign attack.

Its real connection to the outside world wasn’t the surface entrance but rather through a rail service tunnel that ran from a distant Ministry of Social Order Military research station. Still outside contact was rare except for the supply of units for the engines, and thus base was designed to be as self reliant as possible. Station personal eat a form of snot green fungus that was grown in custom built caverns and drunk water that had already passed through their bodies thousands of times.

The Station had worked constantly on its task for over ten years and had achieved some inspiring success. Bridgette Iesus had green lighted the full scale movement forward of the project and now the Vankrat device had been a success beyond the hopes of even the most optimistic Ministry officials.

The ‘Protection bay’ was hundreds of meters long and over twenty meters high. Wires screeched along the walls like vines, feeding into the blackened far wall of bay.
With a flip of a switch, the black wall would shimmer and shake…then with a dull base thud the surface of the wall would appear to turn into a thick black oil, yet contrary to the laws of God, the oil wall would remain standing rather then slipping over the bay..

Three months ago
The great breakthrough had come three months ago, a breakthrough that had been hailed as the greatest even in human history by Bridgette Iesus…not only had they pierced the firmament but sent manned craft through.

Images of the great beyond had spun on the great view screens in the command room, sending awed chills through the scientists.
The mythonaut piloted the shuttle deeper into the ‘firmament’, cutting through the inky blood red clouds. Around his shuttle lightening crackled, sending worm like ripples of visible energy along his craft.
“This is Eagle One. Are you getting this Perpetua? Can you see this…can you see it? …My God it’s beautiful…”

It loomed before the Iesus craft. A world that seemed to change shaped even as the pilot watched it. Flames seemed to dance around the planets atmosphere yet the planet seemed to be a molten darkness despite the surrounding flames.
“Can you hear that Perpetua?” The Mythonaut tapped his headset as suddenly shrieks and howls echoed through the cockpit.
“Negative Eagle one. Your signal is cutting out. Continued gathering information…”
The pilots voice became strained “God cant you see it? Can’t you hear them? “
The unconcerned voice of ground control droned on, ignoring the pilots fluttering vital signs. “Visual signal has totally cut out. Continue your mission”
“Oh God! They’re crawling inside me, I cant breath! The pain! Rivers of Blood laced with feces, lava, vomit. Oh God!”
….In the command room nervous technicians looked at each other, no-one willing to order the craft to pull back…
“My skin is burning! They’re laughing and jeering ha-ha there’s NO GOD and there's NO mercy here! What have we done! We’re damned! Damned! “
Finally the transmission stopped. Scientists and technicians looked nervously around, unsure of what to do next. At last a booming voice shut through their shock, General Greel was a man who lived on results.
”Analyze what data we had, prepare the next shuttle. I want a report on how soon we can land people on that planet…:”

Today
The Mythonaut stepped onto the black crust of the planet, his foot sinking inches down into the apparently brittle surface.
“Perpetua station. Confirmed. We are outside the craft. A mighty day for our people…a giant leap for humanity!”

In the opulence of her spring palace, Bridgette Iesus gleamed.
The pictures sent to her from Perpetua were familiar to her, she dreamt of that shifting darkness long before the Eagle had penetrated the firmament. She’d dreamt of that world during her meditations with the ancient relics from a land now lost to Christian belief. She’d imagined that planet after the times she’d broken into the Firmament with blood offerings. That world had haunted her dreams for years and now it was hers. Hers alone.



The Mythonaut lifted the shielding visor on his protective suit and wished he could rub his eyes. The formation of massive crystals before him seemed to pulse, as if the planet was breathing…it hurt his eyes but yet the blood red environment was somehow gorgeous. He looked into the sky and saw no moons or stars or sign of the orbital flames but only an inky blackness that seemed to smother him. The Mythonaut sniffed, It was almost like he could smell the rotting stench of blood but he knew that was impossible through the suit.
"Something wrong Captain?" Ensign Edge inquired, adjusting her stride to walk alongside Captain Grey.
Grey glanced at the Ensign. “Nothing…Nothing..”
They reached the top of the crystal encrusted dune after what seemed an age, neither Mythonaut would say it but they both felt their feet becoming heavier..like dragging lead balls as they edged over the dune…
Grey panted and waved at the throbbing crystals “Command wants some samples Ensign….Ensign?” Grey turned to see what was holding the Ensign from carrying out her assigned task….Both Mythonauts stood staring into the distance from the top of the dune…
Captain Grey spoke calmly “Perpetua base…this is Explorer team 5..we’ve found something amazing. It looks like a city…no signs of life…but my God…it’s a city!”

The structures seemed to be made of nothing the Mythonaut could identify..It’s seemed almost biological in nature, a building material excreted rather than fashioned. The structures rose from the earth, black and red towers that looked as if they had grown out of the planet. Red clouds lay low over the structures, blending and wrapping around the towering spires.
Captain Grey placed his gloved hand against the structure and withdrew his hand in shock as his whole body shuddered from the chill. Grey ran his sensor over the material again, but yet he couldn’t see a reason for the chilling effect of the material.
He slowly entered through an opening that gave the impression it was a designed entrance, shining his torch around as he entered curiously.
Lightening flashed outside, followed immediately by the deep booming rumble of thunder….than died away suddenly.
“Oh Shit!” Grey jumped and dropped his touch. He cursed himself more sternly under his breath. He’d been jumpy as a kitten since he’d entered the ‘city’ and he hated himself for it. He was glad Ensign Edge was exploring another of the structures with Explorer team tree…he couldn’t handle for a mere Ensign to see him so nervous!
He pressed into the darkness, his torch light swallowed up by the ever present darkness around him. He shone his light on the walls…there was no ceiling he could see, instead rather the walls simply went straight up hundreds of meters – apparently this tower was hollow.
He knelt and ran his hand over the floor. He brushed the blood red ash soil away revealing a black stone surface that shined as it was revealed. Grey flicked away stray soil and stared into his own dim reflection in the gleaming floor.
“Shit!”
He flung himself backwards …

Ensign Edge couldn’t help herself. She had to touch it. Slowly she slid her hands along the thick shaft. She smiled….the lever was made to be touch.
“Careful now…” The Lieutenant snarled and pushed Edge away from the newly found ‘Machine’…the console with its dead screens had a complex series of rune keys set into it, along with archaic levers that were rune encrusted and what appeared to be battered keyboards set in some alien tongue.. It was a bizarre mismatch of technology and art that seemed…chaotic.

The earth throbbed like a strong and steady heart beat.
“It appears to be some sort of manufacturing system…it appears we’re on top of massive caverns…”
The machinery had purred into life and now was rumblings idly. No one could figure out exactly why the machinery had come online and Ensign Edge swore she hadn’t touched anything.
The lieutenant sat at the controls, peering closely at the flickering screens.
“I’m not sure how to…”
Edge, without thinking, leant over and pressed gently on one of the runic keys, causing the monitors to give a crystal clear image.
“How on Earth did you do that Ensign?” The Lieutenant looked up at her with more than a little suspicion.
The ensign smiled innocently and sweetly “We aren’t on Earth Sir…I think we should power up as soon as possible.”

Captain Grey sat paralyzed with terror, watching the ghostly figures rise from the floor. Instinctively he recognized them; all Iesus children were taught about them….the hero knights of the great crusades…the military giants who had carved a nation out of hell…
They ethereal figures shimmered, fading in and out of reality, yet Grey could hear the clank of their armour and of their weapons….he could recognize the ancient knight crest emblazed on their shields and armour..He sat in frozen horror as he saw not flesh on these heroes but only bone enchased in armour, skeletal remains walking like a blasphemy against heaven. Yet worse than the visage of the ghostly walking dead was their dull moaning, the moaning of fear…the moans of people who were about to witness a tragedy.

Ensign Edge waited impatiently for the signal and almost cried in relief when the order came…
“Engaging Power up…now…”

The earth rocked beneath the turbulent storm shaken sky. Lightening pierced the sky and thunder blasted …as it the natural order itself was rebelling against the event occurring.

The control panels buzzed and the screens flashed with countless swirling lines of numbers and images of unearthly craft. Edge, the Lieutenant and the other Mythonauts stood fixated by the endless rows of numbers and the oddly soothing cry of the control panel as it gave birth to its children.

Outside the ground swelled up…lumps of meat being expelled from the earth even as the ground shook. As the organic lumps were given birth, they took on vaguely humanoid shapes...torn pustuled skin stretched over writhing guts and bloated forms. A deep heartily laugh splattered from the diseased forms as they stood upright for the first time.

With a great hellish burgeoning roar, the machine under the earth came to life. The towers glowed white and sucked in the hellish atmosphere above them…dragging the inky blackness of the sky down into the planet itself.

On the view screens the Mythonaughts watched in fascination as in great underground a great machine came alive…a giant processor creating matter from the rare stuff of the firmament.
Back at Perpetua, they watched too. Fully understanding what they were seeing.

Bridgette picked out only the parts of the report that pleased her
“Its like a giant industrial facility…
its massive…
an entire planet churning out whatever its told too….
its ours…”

Overhead the clouds grew ever darker, flecked by red tears. The eyes played tricks on those below, many believing they could make out the vague movement of shadowy gelatinous creatures amongst the clouds.
The rotting wasted creatures bore a vaguely humanoid size and appearance, but their eyes blazed with an unnatural glow. Flies or some other unknown insect continually buzz around them as they lumbered to their stations at the arcane machinery…totally ignoring the terrified Iesus Mythonauts who had been investigating the ancient and long-dead machines across the planet.


“Don’t fire on them!”
The words from command base buzzed in the comm-units of the Mythonauts. Without a doubt the commanders valuing discovery more than the lives of the Iesus personal.
The creatures laboured on as the create pulsing machinery rumbled ever louder..before long in the vast apparently endless caverns the great living machine was apparently successfully producing its payload..

In her private chambers, Bridgette watched the ‘beings’ closely. It seemed to her clearly apparent they were some sort of labour unit, designed to keep the machine running. She admired the single minded attribute of these creatures…so much more efficient than Iesus citizens…these creatures while rotting bloated lumps of flesh carried out their tasks without complaining or neglect - already the fruits of their labour was becoming apparent..
She lounged back and mused. She knew her enemies considered her a woman of excess, hedonism, pride and self indulgence; yet she knew they wouldn’t accuse her of stupidity…she could see the possibilities already. This planet fulfilled her dreams, it was almost if it had been custom made for her. A unsleeping workforce labouring non-stop on fantastic weapons from beyond time itself – after years of attending those dead Christian rituals…after years of offering to the dark realities of life…at last she had a planet fitting for her!

The first sleek black shape rose from the blighted earth and plunged through the red maelstrom that surrounded the planet. A swirling cloud of unknown lights circled the cruel arrow shaped vessel as it darted through the clouds. An unnatural red glare followed in the ships wake…the rotten labouring barely humanoid creatures pointing at the afterglow …gibbering and giggling with excitement as the Iesus Mythonauts watched in innocence of what was happening. A deep unsettling revulsion was rising in each of them…not revulsion simply at the putrid zombie slave worker that stalked through the complex but a revulsion that cried out in their souls from the dawn of man.

Perpetua base was a hive of nerves and activity.
The lights dimmed in the control room sending nervous technicians into a frenzy as they watched the readout screens. The Portal opening to the firmament was drawing ever greater amounts of energy from Venkrat reactor and for some unknown reason the bases conventional reactors weren’t fairing much better.


“We’re burning through over six units a day….I don’t think we can even keep this up..
Behind the glass the engine swirled, casting its green light over the chamber.
The eerie green glow illuminated the four childish figures fixed firmly to large bulky metal chairs within the chamber. Each painfully young face was hidden behind a archaic looking gas mask with a long tube running from the gas mask directly into the engine
The ‘engine’ itself pulsed with energy, like a living heart…its pulsating green glow emitted becoming brighter and brighter, yet all colour seemed to be draining from the chamber…as if reality itself was being siphoned off to the protection chamber
As the swirling ball of energy became brighter and brighter, the four figures twitched and bucked. Veins burst and Bones snapped as their bodies convulsed, but their anguished cries were smothered by their mask’s.

Doctor Griffin watched glumly “See! Its happening again! They aren’t lasting barely anytime at all! It must be because they are half-breeds….listen…I’m all for the forced reproduction unit and I’m happy about what its results but it seems clear to me we need something better than these half-breeds! Or at least we need those meta bitches to produce more offspring…tell Captain Lawn to get his men to work harder…” Griffin giggled at the thought.
“Yes sir.” The nurse nodded and pulled her lab coat tighter against herself. She hated going to down to the reproduction labs..she even hated it more than watching the offspring being feed into the device…Something about the way the metas cried as their young were taken away from them…Nurse Holby couldn’t help but think that somehow the metas did love their young…

The red maelstrom that surrounded the planet was alive with the 'ships' being 'birthed' from the planets works. Iesus Mythonauts had learned how to handle the machines with startling quickness...it was as if the machines reactor to the pilots thoughts. The attack drills carried out were going perfectly, the pulse cannons on the ships ripping apart the heavily armoured target drones. Already the more tactical minded were seeing the gift God had given Iesus.

"Christians need not fear the unknown! Those of true courage and virtue fear nothing!" The obese Ministry officer shouted at the pilots as they lowered themselves into the bubbling slime that was the cockpit.
"have courage and fear no one!" The instructor continued to scream as the pilots felt the slime soak into their skin and pour into their mouths, yet as if a act of God.
"See! God has chosen Iesus! God is great! All praise Bridgette Iesus!"

"Doctor Griffin I am pleased to see Venkrat reactors are now in every major Iesus city and even more pleased to see the Firmament Instant travel network online. You're work bringing the Firmament defence net online is an example to us all....I'm very impressed by your mind...I am less pleased that the number of Firament warheads is less than expected...I understand Psionic and Firmament warheads are quite different so I dont see why ones output effects the other...Department 16 is well out doing your own department, they have already over one hundred Firament Projector cannons fully functional....I'd advise you to try to up your game doctor...Bridgette out..." The screen went black, leaving Doctor Griffin alone in his lab. The city (thats all the planet was known as) now was home to over 10,000 people plus the countless walking(well...staggering) creatures that worked the machines, yet Griffin felt more alone than ever.
He flicked on his comm unit "Cloning Tanks, this is Doctor Griffin, I need more samples and cant wait for the breeding program...you'll have to meet this terms short fall...thatsa 25% increase. Make that 35%...those half breed children from the breeder program are worse than useless...they die in no time at all.."